Bible Reading: Mark 4. 1-34
“Listening, receiving, and fruiting are the characteristics of a disciple of Jesus. Receptive listening produces a miraculous harvest. ” James Edwards
- Since the beginning of his Gospel.
- Mark has presented Jesus as someone who teaches; So far we have seen him teach in the synagogue (1:21-22) as someone who has the authority to teach; We also saw him teach the multitude the sea a great multitude (2:13).
- But with the exception of some brief speeches with his opponents (2:8-12; 17; 19-22; 24-28; 3:4-5; 23-29; 33-35).
- We do not yet know exactly what Jesus taught.
- Although it was very clear that Jesus’ mission was to proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom of God (1:14-15) and to show that Christ’s mission was centered by proclaiming this message (1:38).
- Mark has not yet made us sit at Jesus’ feet to hear him teach.
But that’s exactly what’s happening in the pericopy that’s read to us today. And again, Mark surprises us with the way he presents jesus’ ministry. Note that Mark begins (4:1-2) and ends (4:33-34) this pericopy presented a summary of Jesus’ ministry, both focusing on his teaching:?Again, Jesus began teaching by the sea (?) Did He teach you much (?) In your teaching?(4: 1- 2); “Jesus told them the word as much as they could receive it (?) However, when he was alone with his disciples, did he explain everything to them?(4: 33-34).
Also note that in Mark’s account, from the initial description of Jesus’ ministry as the One proclaiming the Kingdom of God (1:14-15), the theme of the Kingdom of God has no longer been presented. The brief mention of Jesus in 3:24 of the word Kingdom (????????; basilia), the word kingdom was not even used by Him. by Jesus 3x (?????????????????; he basel to theo; vv. 11, 26, 30), indicating that the content presented here expands the concept of the Kingdom of God, presenting its growth and development (4:20; 27-29; 32).
Moreover, Mark’s emphasis not only shows us the content of Christ’s teaching, but also introduces us as he taught, “Didn’t I tell you anything without using a parable?(4:33). And although the concept of parable has already been presented in its narrative (cf. 3:23), it is only in this pericopy that its teaching use is seen (cf. 4:2, 10, 11, 13, 30, 33, 34). And to demonstrate this, Mark presents four different parables: the parable of the sower (4:3-20), the lamp (vv. 21-25), the seed (vv. 26-29), and the mustard seed (vv. 30-32).
The process of redemption of the crowd during Jesus’ ministry also draws our attention: “Again, Jesus began teaching by the sea. Such a large crowd gathered around him that He got into a boat and sat in it? (4: 1) This is the second time we have seen the crowd described in a positive light (cf. 3:32), that is, this crowd that followed Jesus for what he had to offer (1:28; 33; 45 ; 3: 7-10), little by little he listens to his message and begins to be with him (3: 33-35), like his disciples (3:14), and more interestingly, this crowd that was in the house with Jesus (3:32) is superlatively described here: “Such a large crowd? (??????????????; pleist kicks; 4: 1). Apparently, the theme of the pericopia begins to take shape from the first descriptions of the chapter.
Note also that among this multitude of people who listened to him, Mark shows us that some have approached Jesus in such a way that they present the the the most intimate circle of Jesus:?When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around you asked about the parables?(4:10). In other words, the multitude is not made up of people exclusively interested in seeking a miracle-maker, among them there are a multitude of true followers (see 3:33-35, 4:1-2, 10).
Mark also briefly describes how Jesus began teaching in this pericopy: “Once again, Jesus began to teach by the sea. Such a large crowd gathered around him that He got on a boat and sat on it?(4: 1). Mark describes Jesus sitting down to teach only twice, here and again in 13:3, when he presents the second and final block of Jesus’ complete teaching (see 13:1-37). Sitting down to teach was a sign of authority in Jesus’ Time, so that whoever learned from a teacher would learn at his feet (cf. Acts 22:3), that is, the authority that Jesus presented in his healings and exorcisms is expressed again in his teaching (1:21-22). The fact that Jesus gets on a boat is also significant; in the previous pericopy, the boat was used to escape Jesus from the crowd who wanted to pressure him for who knows how to touch him (cf. 3:9-10). ), but here it serves as a pulpit for display and teaching. Once again, the multitude of Mark underlines the redemption of the crowd.
The question that comes to mind then is the following: “How can someone from the crowd join the group of Christ’s disciples? And that is exactly the question that Mark answers in this pericopia. “
First of all, we should note the emphasis that Mark places here. Note that there are some words that are repeated in this pericopy, especially words related to hearing (cfr. 23, 24, 33). Among pericopies, the concept of listening is often reinforced, as well as the content of what to listen to: Mark emphasizes the word of Christ (cf. 4:14, 15, 16, 17, 28, 19, 33) that is, his teaching (4:1-2, 3-9; 11-20; 21-25; 26-29; 30-32; 33-34; especially 11, 21, 24, 26, 20, 33) also repeatedly.
In other words, Mark suggests that the first action that must be taken by someone who belongs to the multitude to be part of his group of disciples is to listen to what Christ should teach, and this is illustrated in a very interesting way, in the parable of the sower, for example, the sower who comes out to sow (4, 3), that is, proclaims the word of (4 , 14), is but the Lord himself. The sower and Christ come out to sow/announce (4:3; 1:35, 38, 39; 2:13; 17): While one sows the word, the other preaches preaching (4:14-15; 33; 1:38-39: 2:2; 8 In other words, to be part of the group of Christ’s disciples, the individual must listen carefully to the word of Christ (4:3, 9, 24, 44).
Secondly, Mark teaches us, however, that listening is not enough. In fact, so far the author has shown that many people have heard what Christ has to teach and yet not everyone has paid attention to what he has to say. Religious authorities are the group that heard most from Jesus what he had to say (2:8-12; 17; 19-22; 24-28; 3: 4-5; 23-29; 33-35), but they themselves did not accept what he taught (2:6; 16; 18; 24; 3:22), on the contrary, rejected him and decided to kill him (3:6). And this is exactly what the parable of the sower illustrates: the word sown by Christ falls on different “foundations”, which represent the possible responses to the message given by Christ (4:3-9; 14-20).
According to the parable, there are people who, listening to Christ’s teachings, suffer an attack from Satan so that such a message has no effect on their lives. They are called “About,” a brilliant way to describe those who are not on the path of discipleship with Christ (2:23; see 8:3, 27; 9:33-34; 10:17, 32, 52). Even though they heard it, it was never appropriate for them. Satan’s action here prevents these people from truly understanding Christ’s message (see 2 Corinthians 4:4).
In addition to this, there are also those who hear Christ’s message, but are outraged by the suffering and persecution it causes (4:5; 16-17). These are called “rocky soil. ” Interestingly, these people first have a positive reaction to Christ’s teaching, after all they welcome it with joy (v. 16), but at the same time they have no root in themselves and live a life of temporal commitment to Christ. When difficulties arise, under pressure, that person abandons His teaching. In other words, she listened, he seems to understand it, but his commitment to the message was superficial. He lacked depth (root) in his engagement.
Similar to these are those described as sown “among thorns”. They also listen to Christ’s teaching, but when the concerns of this life come, the deception of the riches and aspirations of other things, do they stifle the word, leaving it sterile?( 4:19). In other words, these people had everything to multiply, but their faithfulness was elsewhere than with Christ: the money, worries, and anxieties of this life were more important to them than the Lord Himself. The lack of fruit, according to Jesus, is proof. of a life of double fidelity.
These three groups of seeds describe the negative reactions of three different people to Christ’s message; however, each of them describes failure in the face of Christ’s message gradually: while the former does not even enter the earth, the second grows, but dies quickly, while the second, although he has survived the attack of thorns, has not bear fruit. What everyone has in common is that they are all useless to the sower.
Finally, Jesus Christ illustrates a final group of people who do three things: listen, receive, and multiply (4:8, 20). These are called “good lands” and are therefore described not only by their receptivity to Christ’s teaching, but to reception and multiplication; in fact, those that bear fruit offer an interesting balance to the parable: while the first three seeds gradually fail, those that bear fruit gradually triumph: thirty, sixty and one hundred (4, 20) This is Christ’s ideal for his disciples.
Now, it’s important to recognize that these? They are not necessarily a fixed description of different categories of people. In fact, they are more characteristic than any other to develop, including a disciple of Christ. If we’re honest, can each of us get into different ones?Alone, at different times in our lives. In fact, this is exactly what happened to the disciples: although they were called to be with Christ 3:14, they have already acted as emissaries of the multitude (1:36-27), soon all will abandon him (14:5) and their leader will deny it (14:66-72) At some point in their lives, persecution and anguish have suffocated them (4:7, 16-17) , and have failed as disciples. is that we all have to fight these trends.
In other words, listening to Christ’s teaching is fundamentally important, but insufficient, subscribers must be prepared to receive and multiply this message, and that is the message of the forthcoming parables.
Finally, Mark demonstrates that Christ’s teaching of the Kingdom of God refers to the multiplication of disciples and, with this, shows that Christ’s disciples, those who listen, receive, and multiply, must do their part in spreading Christ’s message.
In the parable of the seed (4: 26-29), the person responsible for sowing the seed is no longer identified as Christ. In this parable, a man is presented as the one who put the seed in the ground. This man, however, does not know how that seed germinates and grows (v. 27). Worse still, the seed that is sown automatically bears fruit (v. 28) until the time of harvest (v. 30). In other words, the emphasis here ceases to be Christ as the proclaimer of the message, and becomes the proclamation of the message of Christ himself, so that any of his followers can identify with the one who sows the seed. The point is that the word of Christ, whether sown by him or by one of his disciples, has the power to bear fruit. But there is an interesting concept in this parable: the act of bearing fruit here, unlike the parable of the sower, is irrelevant. with the ground where it is thrown. In this parable, the one who sows the seed does not know the process that makes it grow, flourish, and bear fruit, but nevertheless presents himself as sowing the seed. In other words, the multiplication that Christ expected of his disciples (4:20), has here a comforting note: the disciples sow, God makes the seed bear fruit (4: 28-29). The results of proclaiming the gospel of Christ belong to God; It is up to us to continue advertising. After all, Christ’s expectation is that his followers will multiply the followers and increase Christ’s influence in the world.
And this is precisely the object of the parable of mustard seed, which, although the smallest of all the seeds known to its listeners, was one of the largest known trees in Palestine in the time of Jesus (4:30-32). The point of the parable is that although Christ’s ministry did not receive much attention at first, his message and influence would grow considerably; in fact, this can be clearly seen in Jesus’ own ministry, who at first describes himself as having some disciples. (1:16-20), is now described as a large crowd (4:1) ready to hear him teach.
Of course, the point of this pericopy is that our Lord expects his disciples to multiply. Those who have heard and received Christ’s teaching are invited to sow with Christ and in his companionship to make disciples of all nations. The New Jerusalem, we must proclaim the gospel of Christ so that others can join us on our journey with the Master. But our task is to proclaim, it is up to God to grow the seed we have sown!